Overall concern about quality of Dish Network DVR software

[Anole]

I'm holding my PVR 508 at firmware release P301 until I hear they've fixed what they've broken.
The current version is P304 , I believe.
Has it gotten any worse? Well, it sure hasn't gotten any better!

I can't recall when the bugs started showing up.
Might have been with P300, but prior to that, it seemed fine.

In a long-ago Tech Chat or Charlie Chat, they promised Name Based Recording for the 501/508/510 by Xmas of 2004.
People tend to remember only the most recent promises... like Xmas 2005.
I've used a 522. I'm not sure if I want the first 10 versions of that upgrade!

 

[ken]

I have always said, the E* DVR is like a woman. You can't live with it and you can't live without it. (sorry ladies) But after receiving my 2nd replacement 721 last week and finding it buggy I am ready to take a sledge hammer to it.

 

[luckycat]

I'll speak out in favor of E* here, maybe I have been extremely fortunate...I have been with Dish for many years, presently have a 942, recently upgraded from a 721. Prior to that I had a 508. We love the 721...never had any serious issues, although I did have to force a hard boot ever once in a while - but in general it worked very well for us. I think simply having two tuners was a huge step forward. The 942 has exceeded my expectations so far. I have had a few issues with requiring a reboot when doing "odd" things - last night for example while we were recording THREE shows (one OTA and two Satellite), I think my wife was watching a previously recorded program downstairs (not absolutely sure), I was watching a previously recorded program upstairs AND screwing around with the Timers, something happened that triggered a reboot. But under normal use it seems to perform very well. I am very happy to be time shifting my local network HD OTA broadcasts, which constitutes probably 70% of my TV viewing.